yoloswagpoop42069
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If you have test anxiety would you be willing to consider a SSRI/SNRI, at least a short course surrounding the exam? Potentially propranolol to see if it helps and doesn’t cause too much fatigue or brain fog?
Do you have untreated ADHD? Do you need accommodations for extra time for whatever reason? Specific learning or reading issues?
If you’re in fellowship or even outside fellowship, one thing that helped in my training was constantly referencing the online DSM.
Psychiatryonline via institutional access, quickly link to diagnostics. A lot of colleagues I feel don’t know full criteria because they were not constantly referencing the DSM.
I would even reference it directly in a patient encounter if possible and patient was not in direct line of sight, and then ask/elicit symptomatic questions that would fulfill criteria or rule it out.
Too many I think just wing it, using E/M codes and don’t even elicit and thus write in their notes symptoms that would support a diagnosis.
Before and after, read about your patients. Refresh PTSD criteria because there’s a few in the cluster I always forget.
Running into complicated patients should always trigger you to search and read the primary literature in pub med yourself, from reputable journals. Don’t just ask supervisors questions they may not even have the correct answer to. Question what your supervisors tell you, and if you’re uncertain if what they say is evidence based, look up clinical practice guidelines and the primary lit yourself.
And finally for test anxiety, will you put in the effort for therapy? CBT? You’ll shell out 2k+ for multiple Qbanks but not challenge your cognitive distortions during your exam time? There are plenty of opps to practice challenging such cognitive distortions and emotions through practice exams.
What would you tell your patient who is struggling to pass the Bar for law, pharm boards, or X exam? Will you practice what you preach or just hand wave because you’re special?
How’s your health? Do you eat healthy, sleep well, get some cardio?
Do you just try to shotgun memorize everything and not actually critically think about the content, the why?
Like others have said passing doesn’t necessarily mean much about who you are, your identity, or even skill as a psychiatrist. I know some horrible recent grads in terms of clinical acumen who passed the exam.
But in general the most knowledgeable, skilled, and patient centered clinicians I have known have passed without a problem.
The things that do require rote and boring memorization, things like neuro structures, raphe nucleus, LC, etc put into long term storage by using Anki. Take that stuff from the PRITE.
overall though I feel the test is generally moving less in that direction, but it’s just points you don’t want to miss.
5 cents
Do you have untreated ADHD? Do you need accommodations for extra time for whatever reason? Specific learning or reading issues?
If you’re in fellowship or even outside fellowship, one thing that helped in my training was constantly referencing the online DSM.
Psychiatryonline via institutional access, quickly link to diagnostics. A lot of colleagues I feel don’t know full criteria because they were not constantly referencing the DSM.
I would even reference it directly in a patient encounter if possible and patient was not in direct line of sight, and then ask/elicit symptomatic questions that would fulfill criteria or rule it out.
Too many I think just wing it, using E/M codes and don’t even elicit and thus write in their notes symptoms that would support a diagnosis.
Before and after, read about your patients. Refresh PTSD criteria because there’s a few in the cluster I always forget.
Running into complicated patients should always trigger you to search and read the primary literature in pub med yourself, from reputable journals. Don’t just ask supervisors questions they may not even have the correct answer to. Question what your supervisors tell you, and if you’re uncertain if what they say is evidence based, look up clinical practice guidelines and the primary lit yourself.
And finally for test anxiety, will you put in the effort for therapy? CBT? You’ll shell out 2k+ for multiple Qbanks but not challenge your cognitive distortions during your exam time? There are plenty of opps to practice challenging such cognitive distortions and emotions through practice exams.
What would you tell your patient who is struggling to pass the Bar for law, pharm boards, or X exam? Will you practice what you preach or just hand wave because you’re special?
How’s your health? Do you eat healthy, sleep well, get some cardio?
Do you just try to shotgun memorize everything and not actually critically think about the content, the why?
Like others have said passing doesn’t necessarily mean much about who you are, your identity, or even skill as a psychiatrist. I know some horrible recent grads in terms of clinical acumen who passed the exam.
But in general the most knowledgeable, skilled, and patient centered clinicians I have known have passed without a problem.
The things that do require rote and boring memorization, things like neuro structures, raphe nucleus, LC, etc put into long term storage by using Anki. Take that stuff from the PRITE.
overall though I feel the test is generally moving less in that direction, but it’s just points you don’t want to miss.
5 cents
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